Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar was ecstatic as his team won their third match of the IPL 2025, beating Mumbai Indians at their home ground on Monday. The 12-run win marked the first time since 2015 that RCB had beaten Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede stadium. Patidar was also rewarded with the player of the match award for his 64-run knock (off 32 balls), which saw RCB post a total of 221 runs.
During the post-match presentation, Patidar credited his bowlers for the victory, saying, “That was a really amazing match. The way the bowlers have shown courage, it was amazing. To be honest, this award goes to the bowling unit because it’s not easy to stop a batting unit on this ground, so the credit goes to them. The way the fast bowlers executed their plans was great.”
“The way Krunal has bowled was amazing. In the last over, it was not easy, I think the way he has bowled and the courage he has shown is amazing,” Rajat Patidar said.
“At that time, it was clear that we have to take the game deep. So, the discussion was to take the game deep and use KP’s one over at the last. The wicket was good and the ball was coming on nicely to the bat. After the Hardik Pandya over, I went all out.”
Patidar also lavished praise on the young leg spinner Suyash Sharma, saying, “The wrist spinner is one of the main bowlers because they are wicket-taking and the way he (Suyash Sharma) bowled was great.”
Krunal – Hazlewood shine for RCB:
While there were many doubts about RCB’s spin bowling department in the run-up to this year’s IPL, Krunal Pandya and Suyas Sharma have silenced most of the critics with their performances.
On Monday, Krunal looked a little expensive at the start but came back strongly to bowl the last over for RCB and win the game.
Meanwhile, Suyash bowled a fine spell for the visitors, conceding just 32 runs and keeping the pressure on the MI batsmen in the high-scoring encounter. Josh Hazlewood, however, was the real star for RCB as he not only took 2 crucial wickets but his 19th over was perhaps the real game changer.
